Fitness Equipment Request Process

The process to request fitness equipment for your station is a fairly simple one.  Like anything, it is budget-dependant, which means that approval for your request is primarily based on the amount of money your station has in its fitness fund.  Your station budget is dependant on a couple of things:  1) the number of people assigned to your station and 2) what you have purchased in the past. 

Here’s how you get your station money:  Each sworn member of the department contributes $1 a month into the fitness fund.  The city then doubles that, contributing $2 per month, per person into the fitness fund.  So each member’s total contribution into the fund is $3/month, $36/year.  You can now calculate your station’s yearly contribution based upon the number of people you have working.

Equipment request forms are available on the Health Center’s web page located on Firewire.  It requires signatures from all the captains working at that station to process.  We advise that the captain’s talk to all members on their shift about the equipment they are ordering.  Once the equipment order sheet is filled out, it must be forwarded to Mike Gaffney at the Health Center  He is the only person that facilitates this paperwork.  He then will check your station budget and present it to the Fitness Fund Committee for approval.  The Fitness Fund Committee meets regularly and processes the requests on a per-station basis.  Often times, stations will not have the necessary funds for a piece of equipment, but the Fitness Fund Committee will still purchase the equipment.  This is done so that the members can stay fit and healthy.  Consequently, it puts that station in the “negative” and will take them longer to build funds.  This can cause some confusion in the future. 

As our department continues to grow, station assignments play a role in the purchase of equipment.  There are many times when crewmembers have requested certain equipment, and then are re-assigned shortly after.  As members fill those vacant assignments and submit their own equipment requests, they often are disappointed because of the lack of funds in their station budget.  For a small station, it may take a very long time to replenish the funds that were exhausted by the purchase of the previous crews.  No one is to blame; it is just a fact of the process.  This is why the Fitness Fund Committee urges all members to choose their purchases carefully and with the consent of all members at that station.

Lastly, it is important for all stations to maintain an inventory of all the equipment assigned to them.  In order for the equipment request to be processed and delivered, all equipment at the station must be accounted for.  Missing equipment should be documented by filling out an LSD.  It is also the policy of the Fitness Fund Committee to not place electric equipment (mainly cardio equipment) outdoors.  This wreaks havoc on these pieces of equipment and dramatically decreases their longevity.  You should ensure that you have enough room in your station gym for the equipment requested.  If you need equipment removed, simply send a request signed by all the captain’s assigned to that station to Jim Newman, and he will facilitate the removal process.